So you’ve tried to do everything by the book, your surgery is scheduled and you have a travel companion lined up.  It does not matter if you are a seasoned international traveler or traveling overseas for the first time.  Spend some time preparing carefully for your trip. 

• Your medical history,
• Lists of any allergies,
• Emergency contact numbers,
• Your home address, passport details, travel plans/ itinerary
• Contact information of all your country’s embassies and consulates in India
• Register your travel
  It is a good idea to register your travel with the State Department so that you may be contacted if need be, whether because of a family emergency in the U.S. , or because of a crisis in the area in which you are traveling. Travel registration is a free service provided by the State Department, and is easily accomplished online at https://travelregistration.state.gov.  (In accordance with the Privacy Act, the Department of State may not release information on your welfare or whereabouts to inquirers without your express written authorization.)

Prepare a copy of your medical file and leave it with a relative or friend.  Better yet, if you are somewhat technically savvy, scan the documents, zip them and email them to yourself and a friend.  Remember to use one of the free internet accounts that offer virtually unlimited storage space.  You can sign up for a free account at www.google.com or www.yahoo.com.  This way, in case the worse happens and you happen to loose your personal papers, you will be able to log in to the internet and print a copy from anywhere in the world.  You need not necessarily carry your laptop.  Internet cafes are beginning to spread all over Indian cities.  They are cheap to use.  As a precaution, just remember to log out and close the browser window after you are done using the computer at one of these cafes.  This is to prevent you from accidentally leaving the browser logged in and enabling someone else to use your account.

Ask your primary care physician how he would like to be contacted in an emergency